In this application we seek primarily bloc travel support for an international scientific conference devoted to the Marfan syndrome. This condition is, in many ways, one of the prototypic heritable disorders of connective tissue (HDCT). It was one of the first syndromes to be interpreted, in 1914, in terms of a generalized defect in mesenchyme and the first to be categorized as a HDCT, by McKusick in 1955. For the past 3 decades, the Marfan syndrome has had relatively high visibility in medicine because of the dramatic events that lead to early death--acute aortic dissection and severe valvular regurgitation. The recent deaths of famous athletes from aortic dissection, the educational activities of the National Marfan Foundation, the support given to research by the National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, and the discovery of the gene for Marfan syndrome in July, 1991 have heightened awareness and concern about this condition among laypeople, health professionals and scientists. The large amount of clinical and basic investigation that has occurred in the past 5 years has never been presented in an open forum at which investigators with diverse backgrounds and perspectives could learn from each other. Clinical scientists have an obvious need to know about cause, especially as relates to improved diagnosis and understanding of pathogenesis. Basic scientists benefit from learning about phenotype, variable expression, natural history, and formal genetics in order to gain insight to potential biochemical and DNA defects and genetic heterogeneity. Thus, the goal of this conference is to bring together as many of the leading international and North American investigators in connective tissue research as possible. The specific aims of this conference grant application are to provide the organizational and travel funds necessary to bring several key investigators to the conference and to provide competitively awarded stipends to 12 junior investigators (graduate students, postdoctoral fellows) who otherwise would not be able to attend.